


Justice VS Redemption

by valjeanandjavert



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Confused Valjean, Javert Lives, Javert's Suicide, M/M, Post-Seine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:10:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6498541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valjeanandjavert/pseuds/valjeanandjavert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Javert's stood on the parapet of the Seine when he hears Valjean's voice...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Justice VS Redemption

It was a bleak night when Javert stood on the parapet of the Seine overlooking the city of Paris. Little noise occupied the space around him other than the roars of the ocean below and the sounds of waves ripping against each other - much like the thoughts in Javert's head.

Tonight he had discovered the each moral he had lived by are wrong; the world is no longer black and white. Javert had always believed that all actions were inherently good or evil, and that is all. Yet now, he has seen a new complexity of moral decisions. The certainty he once abided by has departed - and Jean Valjean is to blame.

Valjean taunts him. He is a demon. Valjean is a constant reminder of the indignity Javert carries through life. Is it not enough already that he is taunted in every living dream?

Javert has lived his life by the law and has strived to bring justice to the unlawful yet he remains damned. Perhaps Javert should have known this were to happen; for he was born into sin. He is no better than the scum in prison.

' _I should kill myself now_ ,' Javert thought and spared a glance down to the river. ' _Throw yourself into the waters_.' The voice at the back of his head goaded him.

He shut his eyes and darkness consumed him. One step and it would remain like this for eternity.

If he left the world now, he thought, it would be good. He would have no more uncertainty and the shame he holds will cease to exist.

He outstretched his foot...

The weight of his body began to push him towards the river--

"Javert."

Valjean's voice sounded amongst the cold of the night.

He halted his movement, eyes flying open at the sound of the despair coating Valjean's voice.

He heard footsteps approach where he was still stood on the ledge of the bridge and looked out at the swarm of rushing waters.

"Javert." Valjean repeated, seeming impossibly closer.

Had he jumped from the parapet? Javert could barely comprehend what was true. Was this what the afterlife has to offer him? Valjean's voice still tormenting him after all these years - could he not escape him anywhere? Why could Valjean not allow him this final release?

"What are you doing?" Valjean asked, anguish clear in his voice.

"Walk on, Valjean."

"Then step down from there."

Javert suppressed the laugh threatening to leave his throat. Shaking his head, he looked up at the starless night. A lost sense of direction.

"I am no longer a concern of yours. Leave me."

There was a sudden tightness around his wrist, and looking down, it was Valjean's hand firmly enclosed around the soft skin.

"Release me this instant, Valjean." Javert ordered whilst he attempted to pull his limb from the grasp.

Valjean's clasp only strengthened. He could not bear his touch! It seemed to burn through his skin.

"Unhand me!"

"I will not allow this, Javert. You will not throw your life away."

Javert laughed. A deep and empty sound.

"24601," he spat, "a man of mercy and compassion!"

A tug at his wrist almost sent him off the bridge and back onto the pavements of the town, but Javert regained his balance and the hand that curled around his wrist was unclasped.

"You have been given justice, Valjean. Go, before I pull you into the waters with me."

"I am not frightened of you." Valjean announced, looked up at Javert with warm eyes.

"I have hounded you for years." Javert growled back at the forgiving man, "I have longed to you see you back in chains."

Valjean swallowed and subconsciously rubbed at his wrists where the chains of Toulon once laid. Silence consumed them for a few moments. Valjean's breathing was all Javert could hear now, the cascade of waves long forgotten.

"I have committed sins too," Valjean spoke after a moment, "I envy you. Is coveting not a sin?"

"You are mocking me!" Javert spat and stepped closer to the edge.

"No!" Valjean panicked. "I am not mocking you!"

Valjean did not know how to handle this particular situation. Yes, he has comforted Cosette when she was upset or angry - but those times seem so insignificant compared with the depravity of what Javert wanted to do.

Grabbing hold of the inspector's wrist has proven useless - he could barely pull the man back onto the street, although Valjean's muscles would easily allow it.

"You are an honest man."

Javert laughed again. He turned his head slightly to snarl his words over his shoulder.

"I was born from criminals!" Javert rasped as his hands clenched into fists. "And you think me an honest man? The thought would perish if you were to know the depth of my corrupted thoughts. I am nothing more than the offspring of convicts."

After a moment, Javert acknowledged a presence beside him and turned to see Valjean stood on the parapet next to him.

"What are you doing?"

"I have been a victim of such thoughts - share your grievances with me."

" _No_." Javert snarled. He could not allow himself to tell Valjean of his darkest thoughts. They are shameful and degrading, they are-- 

"I have looked upon the world in evil ways." Valjean bargained.

Something within Javert uncurled.

"I have done worse. I have looked upon both the innocent and guilty reprehensibly." Javert's deep voice spoke to the night sky.

"In Toulon," he spoke, "I allowed my gaze to fall upon men."

Valjean's mouth became dry but he did not dare lick his lips as if to break the silence.

"I laid in my bunk at night and rutted into my own palm like an animal. I thought of 24601's strength pinning me to the mattress."

Valjean was silent and Javert expected no less. The obscenity of his sordid thoughts have already led him to damnation - no words could bring him salvation.

"I live my life by the law - yet I have arrested men for similar thoughts to my own. It is unforgivable."

Valjean turned to gaze at Javert and noticed the depth behind his distress. He could barely comprehend what Javert had said - to know that Javert had had such thoughts, about _him_ of all people. But these were the ghosts of something that lived long ago, at least he believed them to be.

The thoughts frightened Valjean, he would admit. He had never thought anyone to admire him in that manner, much less the lost soul he was in Toulon. It was startling. It unnerved Valjean but if Javert could desire the man he use to be, he could certainly learn to care for the renewed man that Valjean has become.

He was startled out of his daze when a voice spoke.

"Take your leave."

Valjean did not. Instead, he reached out and took Javert's hand. A simple and gentle touch. Javert stiffened initially, ready to pull his hand away but Valjean's hand was warm and Javert had never felt such heat. He had never felt this amount of attention and he allowed his hand to relax and allow the touch.

Valjean was apprehensive to move any further or make another move. The situation was delicate and he did not want to startle the younger man. If he startled the younger man, he could suddenly withdraw.

He replied after a moments silence.

"Come, step down from here." Valjean tightened his hand around Javert's very slightly and tugged him away from the parapet.

Reluctantly, Javert stepped back and allowed himself to be lowered from the bridge by Valjean. An arm wrapped around his waist to sturdy himself.

The pavement of the city seemed much firmer than the ledge of the bridge. He looked down at the grasp of Valjean's hand as though it was the most intriguing scene he had ever witnessed.

"How?" He asked, his breathing gradually getting harsher and stepping away from Valjean. "How can you bare my presence after what I have told you?"

His hand slacked around Valjean's.

"You are too forgiving. I cannot bare it!" He erupted and pulled his hand from Valjean's.

Valjean found himself craving to touch Javert again. He wanted to hold him and assure him that he thinks no less of who he is - Javert may not appreciate such a motion but Valjean needed to do it. For his own sake just as much as Javert's.

He reached his hand up and very gently rested a hand against Javert's cheek, his fingers resting just below his ear. Javert's whiskers pricked at his palm.

The inspector seemed dumbfounded by the motion.

"Have you been shown affection before, Javert?"

Javert shook his head slowly. He had been starved, he thought, throughout his life to not know touch.

"Not as a child? Did your mother never smooth your forehead when you were ill?"

Another shake of the head. Now, Valjean could only just notice, standing this close, the water beginning to crowd Javert's eyes.

"She did not hold you when you were frightened?"

"My mother did not _care_ for me." Javert spat as the the word was poison on his tongue.

The sound of the Seine loomed over the pair for a moment - almost taunting Javert.

"When I was younger, I use to fear the storms," Javert spoke brokenly, slicing through the tension. "The cell we occupied had open windows and cracks in the wall. The flashes and thunder were so _loud_."

Javert pressed his hands to his ears as he recollected the distant memories. His breathing hastened.

His eyes welled up further; just enough for the tears to be present - but not fall.

"My mother did not comfort me." He laughed bitterly at the distant memories of painful slaps that he received when he allowed the tears to fall. "I was taught my place within that world of sin."

A lone tear fell from his cheek.

Javert had not cried for more than thirty five years. His eyes stung with the tears that fell hot onto his lips, coating them with the taste of salt. The last time he allowed himself to be vulnerable was as a child - why must Valjean make this happen now?

He had not cried when he had stared into he face of death. But now his face is written with terror at the mere thought of the past.

Why must he be condemned to such humiliation?

"Javert." Valjean spoke. He used his thumb to wipe a tear that lay beneath Javert's eye.

Javert found his body moving hesitantly closer towards Valjean. He was at a loss of what to do but Valjean guided him.

Valjean drew his arms around Javert's neck and brung him into a warm embrace. Slowly, his hands stroked at the younger man's back to comfort him quietly.

Javert did not know what changed in the atmosphere within the following seconds but he found himself in the arms of Valjean - sobbing like a child.

His body shook with desperate cries that tore from his throat. He was certain that his legs had already given out beneath him but Valjean was a sturdy figure. He held him up and whispered soothing words into his ear. These caresses mostly consisted of " _hush now_ ," " _you are safe_ ," and " _do not worry_ ", yet Javert found them oddly reassuring.

After a while, Javert's tears had stopped falling. His eyes burned mercilessly from the pent up tears that has finally freed themselves and there was a dull ache beginning to creep at the front of his head. He was completely still as his breathing began to slow down and Valjean held him even close to his chest, not uttering one word.

Then, he drew Javert from his shoulder.

The younger man felt drained as found balance on his feet once again. He noticed the wet patch on the shoulder of Valjean's shirt.

Valjean's voice was soft.

"Come now,"

Javert found his hand to be taken by another and his own fingers to have intertwined with Valjean's.

"I will take you home."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this is okay! I've had it in my notes for quite a while and I'm not too sure why I haven't posted it sooner.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment or kudos below if you'd like! :-)


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